Kingdom Keepers X
by KingdomKeepersGirl
Summary: I knew that we were making a big mistake by creating so many villains. Walt always said we did it to make stories come alive, and we did. The people did. Their belief did. Now look what's happening. Soon enough, the World will become a warzone. None of us can risk that. We need to go through...With Kingdom Keepers X. (Sort of AU, takes place during 1st book
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Okay, so I know the idea could be considered really silly and childish, but…YOLO! And you know what, if you think that my idea is silly and childish, leave now. This is going to be a little AU, so it will make a **_**little**_** more sense. I'll try to update as soon as possible, school is horrible so this might be a problem, I don't own anything…With nothing else to say, peace, love, and Disney! **

I looked at the letter and screamed in horror. _Congratulations! _It read. _ You have been specially chosen to be a DHI for Disney World. For more information, come to the special DHI meeting in Walt's apartment in Cinderella Castle on Saturday, September 5, 2013. _At this, I shook my head. It wasn't possible that Walt Disney could have had an apartment in Disney World. He died before Disney World was even built, therefore this letter had to be some kind of sick joke. Even so, I read the rest of the letter, for a specific piece of information caught my eye. _This place does really exist, but to come and find out is optional. _How did this person know that I would doubt the existence of this apartment thing? A crazy stalker sent this or something, that's the only reason they could know that much about me! _Cinderella Castle, Saturday, September 5, 11:00 A.M. Remember that. You may very well be our last hope, Scarlet Goodwill. _I wasn't so creeped out that they knew my name as much as the…I guess you can say threatening message to go along with it. How could in the world could Disney be in danger?! They could build killer robots with laser vision and machine guns and state of the art tanks. What danger could Disney World possibly be in? And anyway, who was this creeper?

I saw a name at the bottom and began to read the last remaining words in the letter. _Do not doubt your abilities, Scarlet. The World is counting on you. Sincerely, Wayne Kresky, WDW Imagineer. _

**My Second Author's Note: So how was it? Did it suck? Sorry about the shortness, but this was only more of an intro. I know that I didn't put that much in, like why Scarlet was screaming and her profile, but this was almost like a prologue. I'll put everything else on the next few chapters…If I get at least one review. Sorry! I might put another chapter up today though…oh who am I kidding, I'm so going to! Okay, sorry for my pointless rambling. Now it's over. **


	2. Chapter 1: Distrust and Hidden Caves

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers. **

Saturday September 5, 2013. Cinderella Castle. 11: 00 A.M. I followed these instructions carefully, wearing a black cap pulled low over my eyes. I approached the lady at the desk for Cinderella's Castle carefully.

"Hello," I said, sweeping of my hat to reveal my short auburn hair, which was like my namesake. The Cast Member, a girl around 18 or 20, saw me and gasped; I guess she recognized me from the DHI auditions. "Do you by any chance know where Walt's apartment is? It's very important."

The woman's eyes flashed with something close to fear as other people began to stare at the mention of Walt's apartment. "Shh!" She hissed. "Yes, Scarlet, I do know where the apartment is. Follow me." She nodded at her coworker. "Hey, I gotta go. Be back in 'bout ten minutes, savvy?" The other girl at the desk looked up at me and nodded. The other girl, the one who asked me to follow her, motioned towards me, one foot under the big arch.

"So where are we going?" I asked, feeling a little insecure. I really only trust myself, and this person just asked me to follow her and all…Oh, this was such a bad idea.

"To Walt's apartment of course!" She laughed. Still don't trust her. "My name is Ella. Wayne Kresky sent me to take you to the apartment." Ella said, almost like she sensed my distrust.

"So do all the Cast Members know about the apartment?" I asked, still feeling uncertain.

"No. The only reason I know about the apartment is what happened when I was a kid, about ten or eleven years old. I went here with my family, but I got lost in this park along the way. At first, I wasn't scared, even though I had no way of contacting my family. I wandered around the park, not really knowing where I was going until I saw Cinderella Castle. No one was around and so I thought it would be fun to look for hidden passages, and explore a little. I found was walking right here…and then I found this." Ella said, motioning to a cluster of stones that looked like they were pushed together quickly.

"What's it mean? Why is it important?" I asked, not really getting anything she was saying. What have I gotten myself into?

"You'll see. Now, remember this. It's important." Ella answered. She crouched by the stones and typed in a code quickly. A Mickey head forwards, a Mickey head backwards, the right ear pressed twice, the left ear pressed twice, and the head pressed three times. As soon as the complete code was typed in, an opening…opened. Wow, that may have been the lamest thing I have ever said/thought. Look, there was a thing that looked like a cave coming out of the castle, alright? Ella looked at me like I didn't understand anything. "This is the only part of the castle that's made out of stone. The rest of the castle's made out of fiberglass." She commented as we walked inside.

It was hard to say that the cave was a cave. It wasn't really even nig enough to crawl in, not a first anyway. You see, at first we were just like snakes, wiggling on the ground, then we were able to crawl, and finally walking upright. The trouble was, the more we were able to walk, the darker it was. Soon it was so dark that I literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

"So you found this place by yourself?" I asked, trying to get rid of the eerie horror movie silence.

"Yeah, kinda. I saw someone else enter the code, and I just copied it. I kept walking down this tunnel for 'bout a half an hour till I came across a fireplace." Ella answered. I was confused; what does a fireplace has to do with any of this? Something's going on, and it's bad.

"A fireplace? Why a fireplace? Was it lit? Does alchemy have anything to do with it?" I asked, firing off questions like bullets. I don't know where the alchemy bit came from; maybe I watch too much anime.

"No. There was no fire within it. After a bit of exploring, I found that it was only a white room with a fireplace in it, something I assumed was used for emergencies. I wanted out to find my family, but the door had shut behind me. There weren't any symbols I could use, just clean cut, stainless steel walls. There was some sort of high-tech spy thing that registered your hand, like in action movies, but it didn't work with me. I was then convinced that that room had to be some kind of dungeon.

I don't know how long I was in there, but I tried everything to pass the time. Bouncing a ball was like a form of torture, watching it go up and down, and I didn't want to look like a crazy person talking to themselves. Finally, I just decided on practicing my fighting skills. After a while, I was the idiot who tried to karate-kick the door open ninja style. As you can probably guess, that didn't work. I bounced back and hit the wall of the fireplace. Like in that Indiana Jones movie, it turned around and I found myself in a room full of Imagineers writing something odd on a board, but stopped and covered it up when they saw me enter. They began to ask me why I was here, and how I got there, but I wouldn't answer. I was too shocked to. After standing there for what seemed like forever, an Imagineer named Wayne Kresky stood up and told the others something that I couldn't hear. Either way, he told me how I couldn't tell this to anyone, not even my own family. I just agreed, even though I didn't trust them in the slightest. But then they helped me find my family, and I couldn't have been more grateful." Ella explained.

"Whoa." I said intelligently. Yeah, best line ever, you have just witnessed history.

"Yeah, well, this isn't the only secret I know. I've only been an Imagineer for about six months-I'm only 18, after all- but I've been getting into as much trouble concerning Disney as I could since that day." Ella stated proudly.

"Hm. So you knew Wayne Kresky?" I asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"Yes. In fact, he was the one who assigned me to Project Kingdom Keepers X." She said, thumping a fist against the wall.

"What's Project Kingdom Keepers X?" I asked. The Kingdom Keepers. Did that mean the DHIs? Why would they title it 'Kingdom Keepers X?' I was especially confused by the 'X' in it. X is the Roman numeral for ten. Does that mean that they've tried this before? Ella finally stopped her banging on the walls.

"Scarlet, you're about to find out." She said slowly, swinging a side door open. I stepped through the door, only to find myself at a giant maze.

**Second Author's Note: Okay, second chapter up! Sorry if it's short, but I'll put more on the next chapter. Because of school and all, I might only be able to update on the weekends, so…Sorry! **

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**PrincessWilla101: **Thanks for reviewing my story! I'll try and write as often as I can!


	3. Chapter 2: Escher's Keep

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers. **

"So…what's with the giant chessboard?" I asked calmly, despite how whacked up my life now was.

Oh, yeah, you heard me right. Giant chessboard. Among other stuff that could be considered weird as well. From what I could see there were a few staircases behind the chessboard which were upside down and turned around. If I craned my neck I could see doors on a platform, no doubt where the stairs lead.

"We call this 'Escher's Keep.'" Ella said, one foot on a white tile (A/N: **Yeah, so it's kinda been a while since I read the first book and I don't remember what the pattern for Escher's Keep was so sorry if it's wrong**). "Follow me and memorize. This is the only real way to get to the apartment."

"But I thought that you said that you found it another time when you where ten years old." I commented, hopping after her.

"No, I said I found a room in here. This place is riddled with different rooms, Scarlet. Anyone can find them, but at the same time nobody can find them." Ella answered creepily. 

"Um…okay. What do you mean by that?" I asked curiously.

"Well, it's easy to make it into here; anyone with half a mind could find the tunnel. Naturally, you always go the end of the tunnel, where the light is, no matter who you are." Ella mumbled, but it still echoed off the walls. She hopped to the last row of squares. I followed, only one step behind her. "Not many people would think to look on a random, unmarked wall. And even if someone did find this place, they couldn't make it past here. One wrong move and they end up in the moat outside. They probably won't be able to come back here without Security asking a few questions as to why they got in the moat and such." Ella said, looking very proud.

"But wouldn't they then need to tell Security about this place?" I said, gesturing to the high ceiling as I exited the panel floor.

"Usually, they would, but then this would be investigated. And then with investigation comes answers. They can't risk that. They need this place to gain the most valuable kind of power there is." Ella said, putting one foot on the middle (A/N :?) stairway. It proved to be solid, and she walked on it. Seconds later, she was above me.

"Knowledge." I answered as I climbed after her.

"Yes; it's the most valuable kind of power in the world. Never forget that." She said, stepping in front of one of the doors I had seen earlier, the purple one to be exact, and opened the door to reveal an elevator with an open roof showing off the stars. "Any questions?" Yeah, actually a couple concerning my sanity right now!

"Yeah, only one, really. Who are 'they' and 'us'?" I asked, worried I had now joined some sort of assassin organization. The elevator came to a stop abruptly as the doors swung open."

"Scarlet…You're about to find out." Ella answered in a quiet voice.

**Yep, that's it! So, so sorry if it's lame. I promise I'll have a chapter up tomorrow though, cross my heart. **

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**PrincessWilla101: **Thank you! Like I said, I'll update tomorrow!b:D

**Sophiadream: **Thank you! :D


	4. Chapter 3: Finding Out Everything

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers. **

**Author's Note: Sorry I didn't update last weekend. But to make up for it, here's a longer update than what I posted last time! *Random confetti falls from ceiling* **

The room was obviously an apartment, and I'm not stupid, so I figured this was 'Walt's Apartment'. Standing in the room were about 20 other people, all of who were my age except for one person who looked older than dirt, to be honest (**A/N: Yeah, I had to put that there. I'm fluent in sarcasm. )**, and was wearing the name tag 'Wayne Kresky.'

"You…You're the guy who sent that letter! Who are you?" I challenged. Not the most intelligent thing to say, since the name tag says who he is. Maybe I am stupid, but you know, when you're a Kingdom Keeper and you're finding out about stuff like hidden passages, you find yourself becoming at a loss for words.

"Yes, I am. My name is Wayne Kresky, and I'm a former Disney Imagineer." Wayne introduced himself. "These people are your future co-workers. Scarlet, meet Finn Whitman, Terrance Maybeck, Charlene Turner, Isabella Angelo, and Dell Philby, the Keepers of the Magic Kingdom." Wayne explained.

"Keepers of the Magic Kingdom?" I questioned, crossing my arms and squinting in disbelief.

"You remember the little 'update' to the Magic Kingdom a month ago, I presume?" He asked, not really answering my question.

"Yeah, of course. So what?" I asked, scowling and un-crossing my arms.

"Well, Finn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby were here first, as you know." I nodded at this. "…We thought we needed them alone to save the Kingdom, but turns out after a month of experimenting, we were wrong. We soon found out that we needed Kingdom Keepers for every park when they got ambushed one night by…_them_." There was an insane amount of anger behind that word.

"I keep hearing about 'them'. Who…Who are they, and why are they so important?" I asked, frowning. Everyone in the room shared a long look.

"Should we tell her?" A girl with black hair streaked with silver said, suspicious. "I mean, she only just came here. We don't know if she's playing for the dark side or not."

"I specifically picked _her_ to be in this group and lead us for a reason. She will be examined later for further proof that she is not the enemy." Wayne replied. This made me nervous. Who was the enemy? Why was I being picked to lead?

"What's going on? Who's the enemy?" I asked, growing frustrated with them.

"You might want to sit down for this," a girl with bright pink hair told me. "When I found out, I nearly had a heart attack."

"You can leave now," Wayne continued. "But you couldn't tell anyone about this place. Your place as a DHI would be removed. It's your choice." He stated simply.

"I…I want to know what this is all about." I said firmly.

"No matter what the consequences?" Ella spoke up, seriousness glinting in her eyes.

"No matter what the circumstances." I replied.

"Alright, but you need to listen up." Ella said.

"Long ago, before even your parents were born…" Wayne started.

"Humans discovered fire." The girl with streaked silver hair interrupted. Wayne glared coldly at her, and she put her hands up in surrender.

"_Anyway, _long ago I worked with Walt Disney. A close personal friend, you could say. After a long while, I began to work with him in the creation of characters. He had talked about how the human mind was capable of anything, even creating things that weren't real. Soon, he began creating legions of evil, horrible characters, and everyone in Disney Studios began to grow worried. I begged him to remember how he said the human mind was capable of anything, how something horrible would happen if he showed it to the public…but they didn't listen.

Only a few years after he created his first villain, I noticed changes in the universe around me. A little less color in the world, a little less light. It wasn't until Walt died that we truly noticed the problem we were facing. And so we began creating fewer villains and more heroes and heroines, hoping that one day, one would help restore peace. Unfortunately, they all failed throughout the years, and soon we realized that we needed new heroes in the world." Wayne said seriously.

"Wait, you told us that you weren't even sure the OTs existed," stated a girl with long brown hair and glasses.

"That was before they had a first-ever encounter with an Overtaker last week!" The former Imagineer said excitedly, pointing to the original Kingdom Keepers. And that was when everyone freaked out.

"WHAT!" About all of us (except for me) yelled, looking like they were about to murder Finn, Charlene, Willa, Philby and Maybeck.

"Well, yeah! While you wimps were off hiding like cowards-!" Maybeck started before Finn interrupted.

"We crossed over one night and were hiding in the teepees in Frontierland like _cowards_. The temperature dropped to like, below zero and this creepy voice starting saying creepy things like '_I know you're in there'. _So, then Maleficent appeared and we ran _like cowards_." Finn interrupted, glaring at Maybeck.

"Maleficent? As in Sleeping Beauty Maleficent?" I asked. I shook my head and pressed the button for the elevator. "You people are crazy!" A hand covering the elevator button was the only thing that stopped me.

"You can't go, not yet." Ella said.

"You're not going to kill me, right?" I asked shakily. I never wanted to be in a room full of mental people. That is not a situation you want to be in regardless.

"Scarlet, we're not going to kill you." Wayne spoke up. "But you already said that you would go through with this. I'm afraid it's too late."

"But how do I know you're not crazy? Prove to me that this is all real." I challenged. Wayne sighed, like he had heard this before.

"Alright. Tonight you will cross over, as you have newly been accepted as a DHI. Crossing over means that you'll start to wake up in one of the Disney parks at night, which ever ones you're placed into the park with. As soon as you get into the parks, it's up to you to protect them."

"How could I protect the parks?" I blurted. "I don't know the first thing about fighting! And what park am I protecting?" I didn't mean to say the last part. To be honest, that was lame.

"Well, first of all, you don't need to learn types of serious fighting. We don't believe in violence or killing here. And, this meeting is to find out what kind of park you will be in and who you will be working with." Wayne replied.

"Hey, we didn't get a choice!" Maybeck scowled from behind. Wayne just chose to ignore him.

"You're going to be in the park Animal Kingdom with your teammates as Lydia, Aura, Elizabeth, and Lexi." Ella stated, gesturing towards a girl with bright red hair, another girl with light blond hair, a girl with brown hair, and the girl from earlier with the silver streaks in her hair.

"Great…What do I do know?" I asked, feeling something close to joy-strangely enough, since I was in a room full or psychopaths-for the first time since I got accepted as a DHI.

"When you go to sleep tonight, you'll end up somewhere in Animal Kingdom. It doesn't matter where you are in the parks, just get to the center, the landmark and go inside." Ella explained.

"Every time I fall asleep?" Ella nodded. "What if I fall asleep in class?"

"Then it sucks to be you." Lexi laughed. "But listen, seriously, **stay awake**. No one really knows what happens to our human bodies while we're crossed over. Plus, you never know what could happen if there's two DHIs walking around in broad daylight. If there were two sightings of you in completely different places, then Security would catch you and you're screwed."

"O-okay." I said, a little more to myself than out. "So I'm officially in?"

"Yeah," Ella said. "Welcome to the Kingdom Keepers."

**Author's Note: It is finished! Oh…I meant the chapter, not the story. Anyway, sorry for the last chapter. Yeah, I read it over, and I got to say it seemed longer when I was writing it. And sorry for the lame-o ending, I was kind of out of ideas. Next chapter is Scarlet's first cross over. Please read! **


	5. Chapter 4: Cross Over

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned. **

**Author's Note: This is the chapter I've been DYING to write! This is going to be Scarlet's first cross-over! So…without anything better to say, peace, love, and Kingdom Keepers!**

"Oh my God!" I woke up to seeing a giant metal mountain in my face, and brightly colored flags waving in my hair.

Yep, you guessed it. I was right in front of Mount Everest, home to the ferocious mythical beast, the Yeti, which was rarely seen. Still, it was a little spooky, so I turned around to see how far I was from the Tree of Life. Hm. The Tree was in the center of the park, and I was in the very back, but it shouldn't take that long to get there, with no crowds to fight off. At least that's what I thought.

The first animal exhibit I passed was the monkeys (**A/N: Yeah, I don't really know if this is the case, I have a really bad memory. So forgive me if I'm wrong about the structure of the parks.)**, who I guessed would be sleeping since it was about 12:00 at night. And once again, I was wrong. The monkeys were swinging around on ropes and stuff, almost like they were throwing a party, childish as it might sound. I was now peering closely at them, my face scrunched up in confusion when I met eyes with a monkey coming dangerously close to coming out of the enclosure. As soon as it saw me, it yelled freakishly loud and the other monkeys hurried back into the giant temple in the middle. Weird.

I shook all that off as I took a shortcut that would get me to the Tree of Life in record time. (**A/N: Just so you know this shortcut isn't real…I don't think…so don't try it!) **Taking a sharp right, I veered towards the ride Kali River Rapids, my favorite ride here. Passing it, I heard a sound like rushing water coming from it, which of course wouldn't make sense because that would mean the ride. Is. On. Crud.

I crept along the long path to get to the loading area, only intending to take a quick look at it. And that's what I did. Until I rode it.

"Woo-hoo!" I yelled as I went down the giant drop…for the fourth time. This time, though, I got out of the raft at the loading station. I figured it was about time I should get to the Tree, seeing as it was already almost 12:30. If I didn't arrive at the Tree soon, that girl Lexi would murder me. I ran towards the Tree as fast as I could, ignoring all the (awake) animals on the way, very stupidly. I ran inside the Tree of Life, tripping over all the paths finally tumbling into the main room where 'It's Tough to Be a Bug' took place and where all the noise was coming from.

"You idiot! You couldn't have picked a safer hiding place!" I heard Elizabeth yell at Lexi.

"Listen, if you have a safer place to hide, I'd just _love_ to hear it!" Lexi viciously shouted.

"What about…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"Yeah, you got nothing! There is _no_ safe place here! Disney figured that it would be safest for everyone to put potentially dangerous things at every corner!" Lexi yelled back

"They didn't know what would happen! They were only thinking of the people!" Elizabeth defended.

"Yeah, well let's see how that 'they think of the people' theory goes when this whole place turns into a warzone!" Lexi yelled, crossing her arms defiantly.

"What?" Elizabeth was thrown off guard for a second; this was new news to her. She narrowed her eyes at Lexi suspiciously. "There's something you're not telling us."

"No dip, Sherlock." Lexi smirked, uncrossing her arms and walking over to the benches. I figured this was as good a time as any to speak up.

"Hey you guys," I smiled uneasily. "What's all the yelling 'bout?"

"Scarlet." Lexi said dismissively.

"We were yelling because of a difference of opinion." Elizabeth explained.

"Well, obviously." I said, crossing my arms. "But what is it?"

"At night, Disney characters come to life. Usually it corresponds with what attraction they're in, but they can travel to the different parks."Elizabeth said, as if it was obvious and everyone else in the room nodded. I narrowed my eyes; I was apparently the dumbest person in the room.

"Disney characters? As in Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle?" I asked, shooting her a disbelieving look.

"Princesses, princes, pirates, witches, villains, you name it, Disney has it." Elizabeth waved a hand dismissively, as if this was old news.

"And so…?" I asked, not really getting the main idea.

"The rides are left on at night, right? Yeah, well, this one was shut off. We should be leaving now." Elizabeth answered.

"Yes, but why?" I asked yet again.

"You ever been on this ride?" Lexi addressed me as if I should now this, which I probably should considering I heard Wayne say I was the leader. I shook my head no, and Lexi rolled her eyes. "Well, have you ever watched A Bug's Life?" Another shake of the head and an eye roll. "Yeah, well this is based off it, and like all Disney movies, they have a villain who wants to take over stuff. In this case he tries to take control by making the ants collect food for him, but the ants beat him. So in the middle-end of this ride, the villain, a grasshopper named Hopper-!" She was cut off as I broke into a fit of giggles.

"_Seriously_!" I choked out. "A _grasshopper _named _Hopper_?! Oh yeah, real scary! I'm quivering just thinking about it!"

"Well you should!" A loud and obnoxious voice came from a platform. A giant bug, a grasshopper, rose up from said platform, as lots of smoke was released.

"I told you this would happen!" Elizabeth yelled.

"Guys, listen, don't get so upset! It's a stupid grasshopper; we can take it! We just need to step on it!" I laughed.

"Step on me? How insulting! I'm bigger than all of you! And I'll have you know, I acquired some new powers!" As Hopper said that, vines came out of the sky and starting attacking us. My thoughts: I'm totally going to sue.

"Seriously, it's _vines_. This is too easy!" I yelled as I swung some easy punches at it. The vines cowered for a minute, but soon tried to attack again.

"You're forgetting something, little children!" The giant grasshopper yelled. Suddenly, the floor rose up and started shaking while the vines grew…teeth? Crud.

At this time, I thought it would be best to just run away from here, but as Lexi said, where else do we have to go? So I took a different approach.

"Feel my wrath of doom!" I yelled. No, I actually yelled that. Out loud. For everyone to hear. Their reactions were hilarious, with most of them giving me looks like I was crazy. I started cracking up. "Dude, I'm not even the least bit sorry. That was awesome!"

After many eye rolls and more crazy looks, the fight was back on, with less yelling of course. It was actually going pretty well, but we weren't winning. There were a countless number of vines, and Hopper summoned thirty more, it seemed like, every time we destroyed one. Thus we were losing horribly, and I know hate 'A Bug's Life.'

Finally, I thought it was all over when we actually all fell of the platform at once. It wasn't that high, so none of us got seriously hurt, except for our pride.

"That's it; I have had it with this thing!" Hissed Lexi through clenched teeth.

"So what do we do?" Aura asked. Well, all hope is lost, so I would say write out your will and what you want your gravestone to say, in my opinion.

Lexi glances back at the power-hungry Hopper. "You guys distract it in any way possible," she said. "But leave the roach to me."

"Well, actually, if you didn't notice it's a grasshopper-." Elizabeth stated calmly, despite how we were all going to die in about 3.8 seconds because of a stupid bug!

"You know what? I couldn't care less. Just let me bash it and we're good." Lexi replied. I suggest an anger management class.

"Your funeral." Is all I said.

Lexi pulled on some black leather gloves. "Fair enough," she replied, and ran off.

"So who wants to distract him first guys?" I asked with a fake smile on my lips.

"You should; you _are _supposed to be the leader after all." Lydia said, pointing out something I didn't want to be brought up again. "I mean-!"

"Listen, I got it," I hissed, keeping my eyes on the ground. "But this just means you're going next."

Without waiting for a response, I ran quickly out of the hiding spot. Waving my arms, I yelled out the first thing I thought of. "Hey! You! Yeah, you! All you are is a big, ugly roach! I mean, you had to pick on _ants_. Talk about weak!" I laughed. Lexi was giving me the universal sign for 'knock it off, idiot' by waving her hand near her neck. "You know what; I bet I'm stronger than you." A face palm this time.

All my remarks were obviously making him agitated. "You don't know what you're talking about! I'm bigger and stronger than ever! This is only a demonstration of my powers! I'll-I'll show you!" The earth rumbled at this, and red hot lava came out of the platform we were just on. I was frozen from fear at the lava, only to be brought out of it when a vine with teeth latched onto my arm.

"H-h-hey! L-let me go!" I shouted while pulling away, only to have another one grab onto my other arm. "I said **let go**!" Yeah, they didn't listen, not that I would expect them to. Instead, they dragged me over the pool of lava, where I squirmed like crazy, trying to escape, which, now that I look back on it, is stupid because if I were to really escape, I would fall to my doom in that pit of lava. I prayed to God that Lexi was or would be fighting him soon. Suddenly, Aura and Lydia appeared, both wearing matching smiles.

"Hey, Hopper!" The giant bug looked in the direction of the shouting. "Bet you can't catch us!" They laughed.

"Oh, yeah?" He thundered, raising his arms. All the lava flowed out of the mini volcano and towards them. "I'm going to destroy you!"

Luckily for them, they cart wheeled out of the way just in time, going in separate directions. Lydia ran, dodging giant spheres of earth and kicking them back at Hopper, if possible, while staying away, while Aura just tried to distract him by almost dancing around.

"…Oh, look, dodged another one." She taunted. "What'cha gonna do about it? Huh? Huh?"

This made the overgrown grasshopper angry and messed up his aim, but besides that didn't do much. '_Where's Lexi being this 'oh so mighty' fighter now?'_ I thought, craning my neck to look around a corner. Sure enough, there was Lexi, with a crow bar in one hand, and a giant bag in the other. I widened my eyes for a split second; this was either going to be really funny, or really violent.

Quick as lightening, Lexi crept behind Hopper, silently raising the crow bar behind his head. After a few test swings that never actually hit, she slammed it down on his head…

And immediately got captured. Hopper had twirled around, grabbed the crow bar, and had grabbed her so she couldn't escape.

"You don't think I'm that stupid, right?" Was all he said as he raised the crow bar, intending to kill her, or at least knock her out. Everything paused as we waited for the finishing blow that would kill our friend.

"Yes, I do." Was all Lexi said before she pulled the string off of the bag she was holding. Suddenly Baby Audrey, the bird from 'Flights of Wonder' was released.

It started attacking Hopper, and soon I was inwardly laughing my heart out as the vines withered and died, releasing me. Lexi rolled her eyes and kicked Hopper powerfully in the back, knocking him into a pit of lava he tried to drown us in earlier. We all just stood there for a minute, looking at the pile of lava.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Okay." I said, breaking the chain of silence we started.

"We just defeated at Disney villain." Lydia said in a small voice. "WE JUST DEFEATED A DISNEY VILLAIN!"

"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" Aura yelled ecstatically, jumping up and down excitedly.

"I am so confused." Was all Elizabeth said, laughing as she saw us acting like idiots.

"..." Still there was silence from Lexi.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked her.

"Nothing." She replied, turning away. "Let's get outta here. They aren't mortal, ya know. They're immortal. Soon Hopper'll come to life, and then we're dead. That crow bar won't work forever, you know." And with that, she exited through a secret door on the side (**A/N: Which again, it probably doesn't exist, people!) **and started walking down the street. Elizabeth, Aura, Lydia and I just shrugged and followed, not wanting to relive our previous battle.

"So you're actually taking this well; waking up as a hologram, I mean." Lydia commented.

"It's just like being in the parks normally, actually, just in the-I'm a hologram?" I asked, surprised. Yeah, I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. There is no such thing as magic, or fighting evil villains, or-.

"Seriously, you just had to mention it, didn't you?" Elizabeth said, obviously irritated.

"We're stinking glowing! I thought that was a big hint!" Lydia retorted, a scowl on her face. Wait, _what_? I looked down at my hands. They actually were _glowing_! I started to feel dizzy.

"Hey, Scarlet, you okay?" Aura asked, stopping in her tracks. I shook my head.

"U-u-u-h." That was all I could stutter out before I blacked out.

"Aaah!" I yelled as I woke up in my bedroom in a cold sweat. "Just a dream, just a dream…" I muttered as I recalled the dream I had. The dream that couldn't be real. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and stumbled downstairs.

"Hi, Scarlet." My mom smiled. "I heard you scream, are smiled. "I heard you scream, are you okay?"

"Yeah Mom, just fine. Where's Dad?" I asked, looking around for my missing father.

"He got called in early." My Dad works as a Security guard in Animal Kingdom. "Someone vandalized The Tree of Life; the tree in the middle of the park."

"Yeah," my younger sister said. "Whoever it was totally trashed the place. Man, I wish I was there to see it."

My heartbeat sped up. "T-the Tree of Life?" I stuttered, remembering my freaky dream.

My sister nodded. "Yeah, totally. See; look at the condition it was in when they found it." She handed me my mother's cell phone. "Dad took a picture of it and sent it to us. See look, the robot bug thing is lying on the floor, all dented and beat up, and the vines on the ceiling are lying on the floor. Totally out of whack."

"W-wow. So do they have any way of knowing who did it?" I asked calmly. _Everything is okay, it wasn't me. I shouldn't be worried or scared. _

"Yeah, of course. It's Disney! The Security cameras, of course! Play it back…maybe five or six hours back, you see exactly who did it and when they left, where they went, all that stuff." My sister answered of the top of her head like it was simple.

"What if they're not in range or something? Then how will they catch them?" I kept asking questions, as if my little sister knows all.

"They couldn't get past the cameras. First of all, they'd had to disable the cameras, but they central power room is locked up tight. Plus, you'd have to get past the extra Security in the room, so even if you did have the key, which isn't a real key, it's an electronic locking system with a digital code. After you get past that, you'd have to get past the laser sensors. They won't hurt you, just alert Security. You couldn't get out of the room in time." My sister answered like this was normal, leaving me to wonder how she knew all this.

"Okay. Thanks little sister." I said as I walked to the door.

"Oh, and Scarlet?" I turned around as my sister called my name. "I know you were the one that trashed the place."

**Author's Note: Another chapter up! Sorry if the characters are out of character. Also, put in the review section who should be the next villain the Keepers fight. It can be Disney or Pixar, nothing else because that's about all I know. And please review! **


	6. Chapter 5: Security

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned.**

**Author's Note: Yeah, a lot of the things I put on here are fake. Keep that in mind. **

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said, turning away.

"Yes, you do. Why else would you ask so many questions about Security?" My sister stated, looking pretty proud of herself.

"What can I say? I'm interested in what Dad does." I replied, looking down.

"Alright, I can believe that…when you look me in the eye and say it to my face." She said, looking serious now.

"I-I-I…" I couldn't do it.

"I thought so." My sister said. I shook my head and grabbed a coat and a hat. I was about halfway out the door when…

"Where are you going?" My sister's voice broke through my thoughts. I glared at her.

"To see the Tree of Life. Tell Mom that's where I am."

"Okay, but I'm not going to cover for you when you get in trouble." My sister shrugged.

"Fair enough." I concluded, and then took off running.

It was a long time before I got there, even though it wasn't that long of a walk. I was walking slowly, almost in a trance, keeping my head down and my hood up. I didn't even realize I was at the parks until I stopped in front of the gate.

"This is it." I whispered. I put my card into the machine and went in the park, the one I was supposed to be protecting. Only…how could I protect it if I was scared of it? All this hidden stuff, and waking up in the parks as a hologram…not normal. Why is this my life? I mean, I know it had to be someone's life; why is it mine, though? It just…doesn't make sense. Lost in my thoughts, I didn't even notice when I bumped into someone. Looking up, I quickly apologized. "Oh, I'm sorry…Lexi?" I asked, confused. Sure enough, there was Lexi, standing right in front of me, clad in a striped t-shirt, black pants, and black boots that came up to her knees.

"Hey. So you came to get caught too?" She asked.

"Getting caught? What are you talking about?" I asked in reply, confused.

"Oh please tell me you're not that stupid! Come on, it's all over the news and right now, they're about to watch the tapes." Lexi responded, walking closer to the Tree of Life.

"You want to shut down the cameras." I said. It wasn't a question.

"Well duh! Why would we want to get caught? They're just going to take away our Gold Fastpasses and disable our DHIs. And unless you want that to happen, follow me. Come on!" Lexi called. She started running towards the back of the Tree, where less people were, trying to get in. In fact, there was no one here.

"Okay…What now?" I asked, seeing no real point in this. Lexi silently pointed to the top of the Tree.

"The top. You heard Wayne, right? The Imagineers knew this was coming after Walt died. That means that they planned what to do in case the Overtakers attacked, they'd either be able to escape or fight. The top." Lexi said, looking up.

"So there's something hidden up there." I stated the obvious. "We need to get up there soon."

"Oh, I didn't even realize that! Just follow me!" Lexi yelled and walked calmly to the Tree, and I followed hesitantly. "Okay, so there should be a doorknob. Feel around for it." She began running her fingers over the wood.

"Now let's see here; tigers, hippos, antelope, cockroach…monkeys, birds, a…dragon? What?" I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" Lexi asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing…is there supposed to be a dragon here?" I asked, fingering the carving.

"Only on the logo…nowhere else. Why do you ask?" Lexi inquired, tilting her head to the side.

"It's just…I think I found something! The-the dragon!" I cried, releasing my hand from it to point. Lexi just looked where I was pointing, then at me.

"There's nothing there, idiot! Sorry, but you're pointing at nothing." Lexi said, shaking her head sadly.

"W-what?! B-but right there, there was a…a dragon! It was right here, I swear!" I said, fingering the empty space where the dragon used to be.

"Uh-huh, I believe you. But for right now let's just focus on finding the way." Lexi said, climbing higher.

"So, this is dangerous, right?" I asked, struggling to keep up.

"Totally." Lexi answered, keeping her eyes narrowed on the carvings.

"Then why are we doing it?" I didn't see the appeal of risking our lives by rock climbing on a giant tree in broad daylight where everyone could see us.

"I thought I went over this earlier." Lexi said as she looked over the carvings, which were all the same. Birds, monkeys, tigers, deer. Not a single one was different. That was when it clicked.

"Hey, so it's supposed to be in a carving, right?" I asked calmly, only watching Lexi climbed higher.

"Yeah, that's what Ella said." She responded, pulling herself up while stepping on a tiger's head.

"So it can be anywhere, correct?" I asked, hinting where it could be.

"You know where it is." Lexi let one arm drop and glared at me.

"Yep!" I sang with a smile on my face.

"Where is it?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on!" I yelled, climbing down _carefully_. I can't believe I actually climbed up here in the first place. "So, as Kingdom Keepers, do we do this often?" I called over the wind.

"Do what?" Lexi replied, as if this was normal. _Nothing is normal now_, I reminded myself firmly.

"Scale buildings, do practically illegal things, destroy property…" I trailed off. I think she got the point now.

"Hey, you're making it sound like we're the bad guys. News flash; if we didn't destroy Hopper, he would've destroyed us. That's just what life is going to be like now. Kill or be killed, alright?" She answered this like it was no big deal. _But this isn't a game anymore,_ I thought. _This isn't a movie, or a show, or even a nightmare I could wake up from. _ I cringed as I put all my thoughts together. _This is __**real**_.

"Alright…I'm trusting you…" I said, not having another place to turn.

"Well, you really shouldn't." She said, focusing on the carvings. Our feet hit the ground. "Now, where was that carving you saw?"

"So, this is it, huh?" Lexi asked as we arrived at the carving, which was a tiger with feathered wings.

"Yeah, pretty much. Obvious, isn't it?" I asked/said, running my fingers over it.

"Not many people know it exists. It's out of the way…Pointing to the Tree. Obvious, yet genius." Lexi looked it over. "So how do you think we open it?"

"Hm…Hard to say, really. Could be a sphere or something we have to put in its eye or mouth, something like that…" I started.

"Come on! Think Indiana Jones, National Treasure…or just plain Disney!" Lexi exclaimed. She bent down near the statue's ear. Good thing the park's deserted due to the damage, or else this would look weird…weirder. And suddenly, the tiger lifted right out of the door, almost like magic.

"What did you do?" I asked her, giving her an incredulous look, but all she did was shrug.

"That isn't a real carving. It's made of some type of super high-tech stuff. It's a cave, probably to get in and out of the Tree of Life. We can assume that this isn't for maintenance purposes, correct?" Lexi said. I just nodded, not sure what to say. "I'm going first, aren't I?" She asked. Another nod and an eye roll from Lexi.

'

Inside the cave was dimly lit, but had the cheery glow of a bonfire at night. The walls were made of cold stone, and there were rooms here and there.

"Why do you think all these rooms are here?" I asked Lexi as I felt like we were being watched. Lexi just raised her torch, one that was on the first wall, to look inside the room.

"More than likely in case they got shut in here. In case this was ever sealed somehow, they'd survive, at least for a little while. Or it could be to take prisoners. Suppose this cave was made by the Overtakers. They could probably keep hundreds, maybe thousands of people down here." She replied excitedly. I looked at her through the corner of my eye suspiciously.

"That's a cheery thought." I commented.

"I try." She retorted sarcastically.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence. To be honest, I was scared of this person. She seemed really edgy, like she could just take off someone's head at any moment. After what seemed like hours, we finally arrived at the end of the tunnel.

"So what do we do know?" I questioned, turning to Lexi.

"Isn't it obvious? We look behind the door." Lexi said, throwing the door open to reveal…we were hanging above everyone there?

"We weren't even going uphill. We shouldn't be here; we should be right under them. It makes no sense." I said (quietly).

"You gotta stop with this 'making sense' thing. As a DHI, it won't get you anywhere except to your grave." Lexi said, looking down at the Security cameras.

"You think they've watched the Security cameras yet?" I asked, not really wanting to think about death.

"Only one way to find out." Lexi replied, looking for a way down. Surprisingly, there was a ladder imbedded in all the side of the Tree. "Bingo." Lexi ran down the ladder, skipping two steps at a time. I followed, preferring to go one step at a time, until finally we were directly over them, like, hanging over them.

"So what do we do know?" I asked. "We can't drop right in front of them to get the cameras. They would catch us without even looking at the tapes."

"Right," Lexi agreed. "But you know in these kinds of movies or TV shows, you just…." She pulled a twig out of the Tree and threw it towards the back, far away from Security. Like moths a flame, they followed the noise. "Throw it. Now don't saw a word when we're down there."

Without the guards in the way, getting on the ground was easier, but still, we had a limited amount of time. We approached the camera while wondering what to do.

"Let's see…how to…yes!" Lexi mumbled. She took a pair of scissors from her pocket...what? Anyway, she took the pair of scissors and cut the wires as if they were puppet strings. "Done."

With the scissors in her teeth and the camera in one hand, she climbed the ladder with one hand like a spider monkey. I just looked at her like she was crazy while climbing it at the same time. My life is turning into a movie. This shouldn't be able to happen in real life. Finally, we crawled back into the tunnel and into broad daylight.

"Alright," Lexi said, hefting the camera in one hand. "We better get this to Wayne and Ella."

"Wayne and Ella?" I echoed. Lexi rolled her eyes.

"Of course. Do you really think I came here, just knowing about all these hidden tunnels, just like magic? Seriously, next they'll be picking monkeys off the streets…" She mumbled.

"Oh my God…" I muttered. Lexi was so infuriating!

"So what're you waiting for? You going or not?" Lexi called from across the street. I just rolled my eyes and followed her.

**Author's Note: Yeah, that's it! I know that most of the stuff on there sounds unrealistic, but they were the only people in the park, and Security was IN the Tree. And I was out of ideas, so please circle the one that works best for you. Anyway, next one is going to be when they hand the cameras in, and I know if I wrote only that then it was going to be mega boring, so don't worry! Anyway (I'm glad the Internet has a Thesaurus, I use that word way to much!), please read and review! **


	7. Chapter 6: Security Part Two

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned.**

**Author's Note: Yeah, a lot of the things I put on here are fake. Keep that in mind. **

"You did what?!" Ella yelled at us. Yeah, well, turns out Wayne was teaching the people from Epcot the ropes, so we get to deal with Ella. Yay.

"We got rid of the cameras, just like you asked. See, look, here it is." Lexi said as she handed Ella the camera. As the latter took it from her…I have never seen a person that angry.

"NO!" Ella yelled, then sighed and put her head in her hands. "You were _supposed_ to delete the evidence, not only add more evidence by taking the camera! You know, if you took the camera neatly, I could have dealt with that. No, you felt the need to leave some loose wires hanging as well!"

"Apparently so." Lexi said with a smirk on her face. I face palmed; she was only going to make this worse.

"Whatever. Just get the camera back tonight. If this is on the newspaper, you're the ones that are going to be blamed for it, got it?" Ella replied, narrowing her eyes to make it clear she wasn't joking.

"Loud and clear." Lexi answered, and walked out of the room. I stayed behind to talk to Ella.

"Hey, I'm really sorry 'bout the camera…" I started, but Ella cut me off.

"It's fine as long as we erase the evidence that this ever happened in all the ways we can." Ella said, frowning and typing something on her laptop.

"By the way…I noticed you had a book on Disney and Pixar villains. Could I please borrow it?" I asked, gesturing to a book on a nearby shelf, still feeling terror from our last encounter. Ella eyed me suspiciously.

"Why would you need it?" She asked. I tried to make up a lie, but the words came out of my mouth.

"We almost died in the Tree of Life by Hopper. You didn't know?" I asked, confused. "I thought…Lexi told me that she told you guys about it. That was why you told us to get the camera."

"No! She didn't tell me anything about you dying or Hopper or anything like that. She just told me that since we were in the Tree of Life, you needed to delete your existence on the tape. They check it every night, you know." Ella said, confused.

"But if they check it every night, how did we get past it?" I asked. This probably has to do with how everyone else said Lexi was hiding something.

"You got in the parks around midnight. They check it when the parks close, but it's always changing. Not in Animal Kingdom, though." She replied.

"Why not?" I whispered, only to receive a shrug from Ella.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Animal Kingdom was the only park I never really explored. Too dangerous, everyone said."

"Why would it be too dangerous?" I asked. And follow up question, if I died...My thoughts were cut off (yes that can happen!) when Ella answered.

"They never told me anything else for the same reason. I asked, but they never told me, and made sure I stayed away from the park. Though…I did hear something once." Her eyes brightened.

"What was it?" I asked, desperate to just put an end to this. Maybe then, everything would be put back in its natural order. If there was a natural anymore…

"They said something about smoke. Smoke…maybe a big fire went on in AK? But that would be in the newspaper, wouldn't it...?" Yes, it would. Wait a second…Animal Kingdom…smoke…

"Hm…Interesting." I said, turning towards the door. Lost in my thoughts, I left the room.

"Okay, this is going to be simple. Lexi, you, Aura, and Elizabeth use the secret passage at exactly…" I checked my watch. "…12:37; thirty minutes from now. Lydia and I will go in first, check the area for anyone, but hopefully there won't be anyone. If there is, we get rid of them fast." I said, pronouncing each word clearly and looking everyone in the eyes.

"And how will you get rid of them so fast? You happen to have something that will evaporate them in less than a minute?" Lexi asked sarcastically.

"Not exactly. Instead, I have these." I said as I took something out of black duffel I had strapped against my back. It was something that looked like a gun, but only shot lasers that stunned you for a short period of time. I took five out of the bag and started handing them out.

"Sweet!" Lexi yelled as she took the gun. Aiming towards the nearest thing, she shot out. That nearest thing happened to be my head. Luckily, I ducked just in time and glared at her. However, the rest of the people here were having the same reactions.

"Oh, cool!" Lydia said as she took a gun from the bag. This time with less shooting.

"Wow," Aura said. I think she was afraid of using guns.

"So this is supposed to only stun an enemy, right?" Elizabeth asked, studying it closely. I nodded.

"Yeah, because they don't believe in killing here, Wayne and Ella gave me these things that only stun someone." I answered, throwing my gun back and forth in my hands.

"But then does the size of an enemy have to do with the amount of damage it takes?" Elizabeth asked. I thought for a moment.

"I'm pretty sure it does. If the person or thing we're fighting is as big as Hopper, this will only stun them for about ten minutes. So in that time, we need to tie them up with this." I produced several long, thick ropes from the duffel. "But if they're really small, like, only a foot tall, then they'll most likely be wiped out completely."

"But after a while, they'll come back." Lexi said, finding a flaw in my plan.

"That's right," I said. "They will come back. We have to get the camera hooked up before that. Elizabeth, do you think you can do that?" I asked, looking at the apparent tech genius. She nodded.

"I think so. Ella told me the basics of it, like where the wires are and stuff. I didn't really need that, but apparently there's one wire in the electrical box that'll reset the whole camera. I just need to connect that wire to the wire that fuels the camera, cut off all the excess wires, and then we're as good as gone." Elizabeth explained. Wait a second. Ella told me that she was never really allowed to go to the parks. What's going on?

"You just spoke a foreign language." Aura complained. I rolled my eyes.

"Listen, we only got twenty minutes now! We need to go!" I said. Everyone nodded, and spilt into the two separate teams I organized, both teams running off in different directions.

Lydia and I ran off towards the Tree with our laser guns in hand. I kept the duffel on my back, for it had many more things in it that could prove useful. There weren't any sort of threats on the way, so we got there quick. Ten minutes left, though. We rushed down the winding slopes, which are a pain in the neck when it's 12:00 at night and it's pitch black. Dang it, only eight minutes left. We ran into the room, which was now all fixed up.

"We're here," Lydia said. "But there's no one to fight. Hopper's gone."

"Take the safety off," I instructed, doing the same with my gun. "It still won't kill them, but it will stun them a bit more."

"Why? There's no one here." Lydia asked. I peeked around the corner, holding my gun close to my chest, my finger on the trigger.

"They'll probably attack when we're vulnerable." I said. It's true. Why attack when we got the safety off and our guards up? I mean, we weren't going to put the safety on again, but when Elizabeth rewires the thing, we probably will have our guards down. I have to be ready for that.

"So?" Lydia asked, not really getting my point. I rolled my eyes.

"So we don't put our guards down," I answered, finally turning the corner. I stood right in the middle and looked around. I was checking out one batch of shadows on the wall when I heard a noise from behind me. I screamed, panicked, turned around, and held up my laser gun, expecting to see Hopper. Instead…

"Dude, chill," Lexi said, standing in front of me, completely calm even with my gun pointed at her head. I frowned and dropped the gun to my side. Okay, maybe a little_ too_ on my guard.

"Sorry guys. What was that? The noise, I mean." I asked, expecting to see a villain appearing anywhere.

"Oh, well, you see, we were all climbing down the ladder when Elizabeth fell off and onto the ground." Aura answered for Lexi.

"Oh. You okay?" I asked Elizabeth, who nodded.

"Yeah," she said. "Now let me take a crack at those wires."

We opened the electrical box, where there were multicolored wires everywhere. To the normal person, it would look like a rainbow colored mess. To Elizabeth however, it seemed like she was right at home. I didn't quite catch what was going on, but it looked like everything was going fine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Elizabeth's P.O.V. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Oh no, big problem! If I connect the camera wire to the resetting wire, it might overpower the electricity for this whole park! I've checked all the wires; there just isn't any way…That's it!

The wires that Lexi cut are just that, cut, not useless. Technically, since they're still connected to the electric box, they can still be used. Problem is, which one? Let's see; if I…no, that won't work.

"No, no, no!" I yelled.

"What is it?" Aura asked. I shook my head in frustration.

"None of these wires are working? If I connected them, it would only end in a big explosion!" I yelled. That annoying girl Lexi just looked at me.

"So? This is Disney; it's not obvious." She said. Then what happened next shocked me. Lexi actually pushed all the wires aside and went to the back of the box. Then, she threw it open, leaving me confused.

"A door?" Scarlet asked. Lexi shook her head.

"No, actually it's another wire behind this." She answered.

"Perfect." I said, smiling. Working quickly, I connected the two wires. Finally, it was over. This particular adventure was over, but tomorrow was a new day. And, more importantly, a new night.

**Author's Note: Okay, that's chapter seven! Sorry if the ending was lame, I didn't know what to do. But anyways, the next chapter will go back to Scarlet's POV. Please read and review!**

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**LoveLiveLaugh Forever: Thank you so much! **

**And without anything else to say…Peace, love, and Kingdom Keepers!**


	8. Chapter 7: Enter the Forbidden Mountain

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned.**

**Author's Note: Yeah, a lot of the things I put on here are fake. Keep that in mind. This is Scarlet's POV. **

When I woke up in the morning, the one thing I didn't really expect to see was my sister standing right above me, yelling in my ear.

"Scarlet, Mom wants to see you. Says you might be in trouble." My heart sank instantly. What did I do? I slowly padded down the stairs, my head down in shame, waiting to face my mother.

"Hey Mom," I said awkwardly. My mom just glared at me. "I-I haven't done anything wrong. All I've done is gone to school, do homework…" I was cut off by my mom.

"No, Scarlet! You got a job at Animal Kingdom in Disney World, correct?" She asked me, speaking softly. I jerked my head up, surprised, although I shouldn't have been.

"Y-yeah Mom. As a thing called a DHI, you know, holograms-." I started to explain.

"You know you're not allowed in Animal Kingdom so long as you have this job, correct?" My mom continued, oblivious to what I was saying.

"Of course I do! The people at the auditions made that loud and clear, Mom. I wouldn't go in it without approval." I said, putting on a fake smile.

"Your father tells me that you were the one that vandalized the Tree of Life. Is that true?" She asked. My eyes grew wide. How did she even know about that? I face palmed for being so stupid! There must have been another camera!

"N-n-no!" I choked out. "W-why would I?" I stuttered nervously.

"That's what I would like to know, Scarlet." My mother replied, crossing her arms.

"B-but-!" I said. _I only did it to help_, I wanted to say. I wanted to say it, but I knew my mother would never understand. She was too practical to ever see things my way. Kind of like the father in _Peter Pan, _though I knew that by the time this story was over, she still wouldn't understand.

"No buts. I convinced your father not to tell Disney, though I really don't know how I managed to. Anyways, you're grounded for a month. No phone, no TV, no computer, no nothing. You go here to school and then back, do you understand me?" My mother asked. I hung my head in shame.

"Yes, I do." I said that, but couldn't keep myself from wondering about what would happen the next time we had to defeat some villains and destroyed something. I understood we had to keep our identity a secret in a way; no one could know about the dangers of the night. The whole world might be in danger. It's up to us to set things right, but how could we if we still had to deal with normal stuff like being grounded?!

That night, the Kingdom Keepers (us, guys, not the original ones) met outside Mt. Everest.

"Guys, how are we gonna keep doing this? I'm already in trouble with my parents. One more slip up and our DHIs are gone." I said, breaking the silence. The others looked at me, except Lexi, who kept looking into the darkness.

"Well, have you tried talking to them?" Aura asked. I ground my teeth in anger.

"Everyone always asks that! Talking won't make all the problems of this world go away, you know!" I snapped at her. A minute went by. I put my head into my knees and muttered, "Sorry."

"It's fine." Another moment went by. "You're right. Talking doesn't solve everything. But neither does violence. We need to somehow figure out a balance." Aura replied.

Lexi stood up and stretched. "Well, I doubt the Overtakers are gonna wanna sit and have tea with us if that's what you're implying." She snorted, crossing her arms.

"Well, she does make a point." Lydia pointed out. Somehow I got what they were saying, yet didn't get it. Elizabeth started pacing with thought.

"So we can't continue to use violence like this," she said. Everyone nodded; no one wanted to use violence (except for Lexi, who said they all needed a good head-bashing.) "And we can't just talk things over with them, either. It's up to us to save the Parks, Disney World, maybe even the real world. So what do we do?" Elizabeth muttered.

"I'm not sure." I admitted, throwing my hands up in a defensive position. "We should leave this spot before any more Overtakers come. At this point, they may be tracking us." And then, a growl came from Everest. We all looked around; kind of hoping it just meant someone was hungry, like in cartoons and stuff. Not a chance for that, though.

"Should we…go inside?" Aura asked cautiously. I shrugged.

"Curiosity killed the cat," was all I said. To tell the truth, I really didn't want to go on there. I wasn't exactly a thrill ride person, and I had never been on it. I wasn't about to make my first trip on it at midnight when there was practically a big, glowing target on my back!

"But the cat has nine lives, so it was fine." Lexi retorted sarcastically. She walked toward the entrance. "You chickens coming or what?" Elizabeth followed, then Lydia, then me. Aura just stood there, frozen.

"But what if one of us is afraid of roller coasters?" She asked quietly. Lexi rolled her eyes.

"Then that person should man up and get on, _Aura_." She answered.

"B-but don't we need someone to guard the entrance? Just in case anyone tries to attack." Aura finished quickly. Lexi shrugged.

"I guess," she replied. Pulling one of those laser guns out of her pocket, she handed it to Aura. "'Member to shoot at anything that moves." She said, and continued walking towards the living nightmare.

"But that's dangerous, isn't it?" Aura asked. Lexi stopped in her tracks and huffed; another question.

"Yes, and that's why we do it. You wanted this job, I gave it to you. But, if you have any complaints, you can ride on the coaster with us-."

"No thank you!" Aura answered hurriedly. Lexi smiled.

"Good." And with that, the four of us marched straight into our doom.

"Whoa…" I breathed as I looked at all these exhibits. All this was made to prove that the Yeti existed.

"This is amazing…." Elizabeth said as she looked at a display featuring different Yeti myths and theories. Maybe this wasn't so scary after all.

"Yeah, yeah, now hurry up! We don't have all night you know!" Lexi snapped, running ahead. I rolled my eyes and followed, occasionally glancing at some exhibits. Finally, we arrived at train that served as the cars for the roller coaster. I was climbing when Lexi spoke. "We shouldn't take the cars." I was confused by this.

"Why not?" I asked. It didn't make sense to me. Lexi rolled her eyes again. I'm getting really annoyed by that.

"Because, idiot, there's a list of reasons. One, the ride isn't running like all the others do at night. What does that tell you? That something's up. But, if this was totally normal, one person would have to stay behind to press the button, and we really can't send three people up there to deal with a growling thing, can we? Finally, if we went on the coaster, nothing was up, and no one needed to press it, then it would go to fast for us to see something. Half of it is in complete darkness and goes to fast. Then our time here would be wasted." Lexi finished, crossing her arms.

"Okay, well if it really means that much to you, we'll walk around the track." I said. And so began our journey up the mountain.

"Have you guys found anything yet?" I called through a walkie-talkie, another item in the amazing duffel bag. I had handed them out to the others when Elizabeth suggested splitting up to cover more ground. _My life is a horror movie_…I thought while checking behind a rock. I suddenly jumped when the walkie-talkie crackled and came to life.

"Nope, but we've been hearing some roars. We're about halfway up the mountain by now, and they're only getting louder. I think it's time to stop splitting up know. Where are you?" Elizabeth's nervous voice came over the device. She and Lexi had decided to go as a group, and so that meant I was with Lydia.

"Got it, and I second that. Meet you guys at the exit sign where the Yeti is supposed to come to life." Lydia had grabbed the device out of my hands and was talking back to them. "Let's get going. It's going to be daylight in an hour."

As we were walking up towards the Yeti, I questioned something she said. "So what do you mean by 'supposed to come to life?'" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Ah, well you see, it's sort of complicated. When they made the Yeti, it was giant, mean, all that. It even would slam its hand down near the guests when they rode by." At this I gulped. "…But then with all the rocking it did, the platform it was on- the _concrete _platform, by the way- was cracking. Upon further inspection, it was clear that if it continued running the way it normally did, then it would actually attack, as in, fall on the guests, and then Disney would be in Lawsuit City. So they disabled the Yeti, and now they flash a strobe light on it. Disney calls this 'Disco Yeti.' Most of the people who come here don't even know there's a real Yeti, because the ride's too fast, and it's too dark." Lydia said. I stared at her in confusion. One thing didn't fit into place.

"So why don't they fix it? If even one Animatronic was broken in Pirates of the Caribbean or the Haunted Mansion, they'd close the whole thing down to fix it! Why not the Yeti?" I asked curiously. Lydia shrugged.

"They don't fix it because of the time. You see, to repair the Yeti the way it should work, they'd have to rip the whole mountain down. That would take up to…I don't know, six, eight months? Maybe a year? Now, without Everest, the only thrill rides are Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids. Now after that, what do the Disney lovers really come to see?" Lydia asked crossing her arms triumphantly. I quirked an eyebrow at her.

"…"

"…"

"…The animals?" I asked slowly, nodding my head.

"Oh, yeah," she said sheepishly. "Anyways, we're here."

"So are we!" Lexi proclaimed as she walked into the room. A loud roar shook the room. "And so is someone else, apparently."

"Think we should go check it out?" I whispered out of fear.

"No, I think we should just stay here and listen to the sounds of roaring, 'cause this is totally my jam." Lexi said lifelessly.

"Let's just go…w-wait, did you guys see that?" I whispered. I could have sworn the Yeti had sprouted wings for a single moment.

"See what?" Elizabeth whispered back. I looked long and hard at the robot. It twitched, and turned darker in color.

"The Yeti," I answered back. It twitched again. I couldn't help it this time. I screamed long and hard, like a little girl.

"Yes, we see the Yeti. Come on, you wuss." Lexi said. The Yeti twitched one more time, and this time it turned darker in color, and sprouted large wings. I ran down the mountain (very carefully, mind you) and out the exit. Unfortunately, I ran into a bit of a problem…

"Ah!" Aura yelled, and fired the laser straight at me. I fell to the ground, unconscious, and felt myself drifting into space…

**Author's Note: And that would be chapter 8! So, how do you think Scarlet can see what no one else can? Are the others stupid? Does it have to do with her being the leader? How can she return without actually using the Return? And I don't need to mention the Yeti, we all know what happens to that, so…peace, love, and Kingdom Keepers!**


	9. Chapter 8: This is Halloween

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned.**

**Author's Note: Yeah, a lot of the things I put on here are fake. Keep that in mind. Also, the bit about the Yeti in the last chapter was totally real, and this is where everything gets a little confusing. This is just my (belated) Halloween special, but it is in the actual story. And in the summary, where I said it was a little AU. Yeah, that applies here. It's supposed to be Halloween in the story, and Finn, Philby, Willa, Maybeck, and Charlene still haven't suspected Jez of anything. Maybeck was trapped in SBS, but Jez wasn't there at MK. Don't worry, it will all make sense in the end of the story. This is just my imagination. **

It was Halloween night, and I was still grounded. Tonight, however, I was hanging out in Animal Kingdom with my classmates from school. Yeah, if you read my earlier chapter, you remember that I said I could only go to school and home, right? Well, it took a lot of convincing…but I was still not allowed to go, so my only other option was to sneak out using the rope I had kept in my pocket.

Now you're probably wondering, 'why'd she need to sneak out on Halloween? It's just like any other day.' Yeah, well, I have two answers for that. One, I really like seeing the decorations and I've never been to Animal Kingdom on Halloween, and two, Ella and Wayne told the all of us to go on Halloween so that we can monitor the Overtakers without them suspecting it was us. So, here I was, dressed to the max, waiting for the others to come from outside Expedition Everest, just like we planned. Or, to put it more accurately, _they_ planned. After what happened in the Forbidden Mountain, I didn't want to go in there! I tried telling Wayne and Ella; they were probably the only ones who would believe me, for they seemed to know more about the parks than any ten super fans put together. I thought this, but they didn't believe me either. They said this, but I noticed a gleam of alarm in Ella's eyes that told me they weren't telling me everything.

Anyway, here I was _involuntarily_, dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood. Deciding to take extra security measures the best that I could, I put my hood up. I had already dyed my hair different colors with temporary hair dyes, so it was kind of pointless, but I did it anyway. Looking around, I saw Aura dressed up as a princess, and Lydia who was dressed up in a simple black robe, like the kind from _Harry Potter_. Waving my hand in the air, I made my way over to them.

"Hey guys," I said, bouncing with happiness. "You see the others?" It was getting late, almost 8:00. If I wasn't home by 10:00, my mother would ground me for eternity.

"Thought I saw Lexi when we entered the park, though I don't know for sure. Elizabeth should be somewhere 'round here, because I saw her by Kali River Rapids like, five minutes ago…Oh, there she is!" Lydia interrupted herself, running over. Halloween is the scariest time of year, my friends. Anyway, Elizabeth was dressed up as Cinderella, wearing a blue t-shirt and pants. As we made our way over to her, we saw her not looking at us, but behind her. As we approached her, she bumped into us, distracted by whatever was following her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry…Hey?" Elizabeth asked as she looked up.

"What are you so surprised about? Ella and Wayne both told us to go here and meet up. What's behind you?" I asked curiously, looking behind her. Nothing. Elizabeth met eyes with all of us slowly.

"Come on," she whispered. "I can't tell you right here." And she took off running. I looked at the others; that was unusually abrupt. Usually when you're on an adventure like that, you try and find some clues first, you know, and everything's mysterious before you find the answer. That's how it's supposed to be, right?

Regardless, we took off running behind her, even as she made her way through the crowds and towards the tiger. I looked at her quizzically.

"This leads to the Tree of Life…where a bunch of people are…seriously?" I asked, speaking slowly as if talking to a two year old. Elizabeth shook her head.

"Not exactly. You see, there was another tunnel, splitting off right here." She replied, opening the secret door. "I assume Lexi told you about the theories behind all the rooms here?" I nodded impatiently, as did Aura and Lydia.

"Yeah, well…I was out exploring the other night, and while I was in the rooms, I found this." Elizabeth stated as we made our way into the tunnel. She swung open the rusty old iron gate which lead into the first room. "And this is the only room that I found intriguing. You see, this room was obviously the first to have been built, as you can see from all the rust. But also, all the other rooms didn't have locks. This one did."

"You picked the lock, didn't you?" It was a rhetorical question. If it was locked then there would only be one way to get in there.

"Yeah, kind of." Elizabeth said sheepishly. "Anyway, there is everything in this cell is the same as it is in the other cells; a couple beds, dirt walls; nothing special. And while I say that, there is something different here…" She trailed off as she walked to the back wall. I looked at Lydia and Aura, who had the same expression on their faces. We looked at each other for a brief minute, coming to a silent agreement. We carefully made our way over to Elizabeth, who was inspecting the back wall.

"So what's up?" I asked. To be honest, I had no idea what was going on, but I decided to go with it.

"When I was searching back here a couple days ago, there were voices coming from behind the wall here. I want to do what I didn't have time to do the other day. I want to see if there's a door." Elizabeth replied, running her hands over the wall.

"Right...a door…." I just went along with it. Should I doubt the possibility of a hidden tunnel within a hidden tunnel? Probably not. Still…something about this place scares me.

"Let me see that." Lydia said, and went over to the wall. Aura and I hesitantly followed. Feeling on the wall, it looked like there was nothing, that we were just a bunch of crazies looking for something that wasn't really there. That was what I thought, until…

"Look, guys! I finally found something!" A cry from Lydia scared the heck out of me. Annoyed, I looked over at her.

"That had better be a secret passage, or I'm going to be real annoyed." I threatened, moving over to where Lydia was standing.

"Don't worry; I'm sure it is." Lydia promised. She silently pointed to the 'door', where a small circle was carved in.

"So there's a circle. Why does that matter?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"C'mon, Scarlet! Think of all those movies; Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones-." Lydia started.

"If you say National Treasure, I will kill you." I cut her off. "…But you could be right. How do you suppose we open it?"

"I really don't know. We don't have a doorknob…But we could…Try and cut the door open?" Lydia suggested. I thought about this for a moment, trying to see if it would work. It seemed like it, until…

"What will we cut the door open with?" I asked. "There's nothing here. And to cut through a dirt wall-."

"Whatever we'd use would have to be pretty strong," Lydia agreed. "God, I wish Lexi were here." I looked at her in surprise.

"Why?"

"We need something to cut through the wall."

"Right; I thought we went over that already."

"You're not doubting that Lexi has a pocketknife or something with her at all times?"

"You make a good point." We thought in silence until Aura spoke up.

"You _do _know Lexi's here, right?" She asked. We all looked back to see Lexi, clad in a long purple skirt, and a t-shirt that said 'This is my costume. Deal with it.'

"Hey guys. You looking for a pocketknife?" She said, walking over to the door.

"How'd you get here?" I asked, gaping like a fish.

"Well, there's this invention called _texting_! Elizabeth texted me to let me know where you guys are." She laughed, holding up a phone.

"Do you have a pocketknife?" Lydia asked, taking a more direct approach.

"Believe it or not, I do." She answered, checking out the wall.

"Yeah, well, I don't believe it. Come on, it's Disney! How'd you get a weapon in?" I questioned, glaring at her. Lexi only shrugged nonchalantly.

"Easy; wear long skirts, get some duck tape, get a pocketknife, and bam! You got a weapon without anyone else knowing!" She exclaimed. I raised an eyebrow.

"What were you planning on using a knife for?" I countered.

"Anything that comes." She answered, crossing her arms.

"Could you cut the door open?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, I can." Lexi answered, and took a pocketknife from her ankle. "You might want to stand back." She plunged the knife into the hard wall, and began carving it as if it were a pumpkin.

"How can you cut through it so easily?" Aura questioned, watching Lexi pull the knife in and out with ease.

"'Cause it's not's really a brick or dirt wall. I don't know what it is, but it's seriously easy to cut through." A moment of silence passed. "It's most likely a trap, you know. This is way too easy. When we go in there, be on your guard, got it? Okay," Lexi said, stepping back from the wall. "Now you might want to stand back." She got in a front stance and kicked the door open, kind of like you see in all the movies.

"Let me guess," I asked Lexi. "You take kung foo?"

"Actually, I take karate." Was Lexi's reply. I was about to retort with a sarcastic comment, but it died on my lips as I looked into the room that had just opened.

It looked like something you would find in a fairytale. It wasn't made of dirt, or brick, but _stone_. Pure, gray stone, making up steps that curved into a tower. On one side of the steps, a single hook. No, not like the kind Captain Hook had in _Peter Pan_. This was a normal hook that you might use to hang up a picture on a wall. Anyway, on the hook, there was a robe that looked like it like it belonged to a wizard. Kind of like Harry Potter's robes, but in blue, and instead of the sign for Gryffindor, Hufflepuff (**A/N: Dude, I have no idea if I'm spelling these things right.)**, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin, there was a cluster of silver stars. I grabbed it and slung it over my shoulder.

"Is this for real?" Aura wondered aloud. I looked over at her.

"Is anything for real?" I asked back. Silence again. This is really creeping me out.

We pushed ahead, up the winding stairs, and with each step I felt like puking. Yeah, small spaces were not my thing. There weren't any windows, but the air was lighter, telling me we were going up. I was scared, only because I didn't know where we would end up. How would the people here react when they saw the Kingdom Keepers come out of the ground, one of them holding a wizard's cloak?

Thankfully, we didn't come out of the ground. Instead, it rose into a tower. A real tower, like in fairytales! It looked so odd, with a witch's crystal ball in the middle, and a single window, like in a prison. Out of instinct, I ran to the window. It was boarded up, but there was a pair of binoculars allowing me to see through the cracks. Elizabeth was the one who looked through them and through the cracks.

"No way!" She cried out, swiveling her head from side to side.

"What is it?" I asked, quickly trying to see through the boarded-up window.

"We're-we're _in_ the park!" She squealed, taking in our surroundings once again. I gasped.

"W-what? Animal Kingdom, right?" I asked, taking the binoculars from her. "T-this is Animal Kingdom!"

"Hey, give me those back!" Elizabeth took them back. "How can this place exist? This tower is so tall, and in the center of all the Disney parks, yet no one sees it."

"How do you know it's in the center?" I asked, stepping closer to the window.

"Because, Scarlet," Elizabeth answered matter-of-factly. "The Tower if Terror is to the left. The Epcot golf ball is to the right. The Tree of Life is right in front of us. That tells me that if I were to turn around, the Cinderella Castle would be in front of me, but for right now, it's behind me, making this virtually in the center of everything." She explained.

"Then why can't anyone see it?" I asked, looking over it again. It was all true.

"If you're suggesting Disney is using a cloaking device, you're probably wrong. Anyone here would walk right into it." Lexi piped up, walking over to us.

"That's true…" I said slowly.

"Guys, guys!" Elizabeth yelled, shaking me by the shoulders while still having one hand on the binoculars.

"What is it?" I asked, kind of dizzy from having my brains shaken up.

"The-the person that was following me!" She choked out, releasing me.

"Was that why you were looking over your shoulder constantly?" Aura questioned softly. Elizabeth nodded her head.

"Y-yeah," she replied shakily. She thrust the binoculars to the nearest person, who was me. The person who was following her was a girl with very pale skin, and jet black hair. I passed the binoculars onto the next person there, who was Lexi. She looked through the binoculars, and then suddenly put them down, seeming very disturbed.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking towards Lexi, who had refused to even look at the binoculars.

"T-the p-person t-that was f-following you," Lexi said, stuttering for the first time. "W-was my sister, Jezebel."

**Author's Note: DUNH DUNH DUNH! So, that was my (very late) Halloween special. Sorry I updated so late! Please review! **


	10. Chapter 9: Past and Lies

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Kingdom Keepers or anything else mentioned.**

**Author's Note: This chapter is going to explain more about Lexi and her background. It could be considered sad, but not crying sad. **

"What-what do you mean?!" I demanded, trying to keep my voice steady but panicking a bit on the inside.

"I mean just what I said." Lexi said emotionlessly. "That person that was following you…That was my sister, Jezebel."

"Why is she at the park?!" Aura asked.

"Why was your sister following me!?" Elizabeth yelled.

"W-what's going on?" Lydia asked, panicking like I was.

"Maybe you should tell us everything." I said soothingly to Lexi, who looked overwhelmed at all the questions. Something is definitely wrong.

"I can't tell you everything." She replied, looking away.

"Just tell us what you can, please." Aura said, speaking softly.

"Listen, this is none of you business, okay!" Lexi insisted, growing mad now.

"Now it's the Kingdom Keepers' business," I said firmly. "So you better tell us."

"Okay." Lexi took a deep breath to calm herself. "But it's sort of a long story."

"A couple years ago, Jez and I lived in Maine, with our two parents. When we were both four, our parents left us alone in the house with a close friend of the family, and they went to South America. They…they never came back. Jez and I…we think real pirates killed them."

"I'm so sorry." I said quietly. Lexi shrugged.

"It's fine. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault, really. Anyway, I wasn't done yet." Lexi said, giving me a withering glare. I put my hands up and hid behind Aura.

"Oh. Sorry about that." I mumbled quietly.

"S'okay. So after that, our parent's friend tried to keep us, but soon found it…difficult." Lexi continued softly.

"Difficult how?" Elizabeth asked, curious. Lexi shook her head.

"Can't tell you that," she replied, bringing her hands together.

"Mm-hm." Elizabeth hummed back, though I could tell she wanted to learn more.

"So, anyway, she decided to put Jez and me into an orphanage there for 'special' kids. And when I say _special,_ I do not mean 'mentally ill'," she continued, giving all of us a sharp glance. "But to explain it further, I'd be breaking the number one rule. Anyway, after a while, when we were about five or six, we both got adopted…but not for long. The person who kept us for that short period of time didn't know about our abilities, and so they ended up putting us in another orphanage, all the way in Ohio, actually.

Some time passed, and it became clear that no one in the orphanage knew about our…abilities, and so we were forced to run away before they found out. Jez and I were both only nine years old.

We traveled the East coast for a while before we finally made it into Maine, but then…something happened. I-I don't remember all of it, unfortunately. What happened was, we made our way to the orphanage. We lived there for a couple months, and one day left to do something for the day. We came back to see that it was on fire. Someone in a black cloak whose face was hidden came toward us. We were both terrified, yet glad because we saw everyone in the building made it out safely. The person started attacking us, and we really had no way to protect ourselves except for a couple karate courses we took when our parents were still around. I remember running away, though, after they overpowered us. While I was running away, I got knocked out by something. I woke up, and my sister and I started running away. About two years later, we arrive here." Lexi explained. I widened my eyes as silence filled the room.

"Wow," Aura said, her mouth hanging open. I looked around; the other's faces were like that, too; they seemed a bit overwhelmed at Lexi's story.

"So…what does that mean? Why is your sister following us?" Lydia wondered aloud. Lexi shrugged.

"Probably has something to do with the guy in the black cloak. According to Jez, I was knocked out for a pretty long time. Maybe they made a deal or something." Lexi stated, looking out the window again.

"Whatever it is, it's not normal." Aura said.

"Yep, just like everything else leading up to this point." Lexi snapped back, running her fingers through her hair.

"Listen, let's just stop saying things about being normal, 'kay? We all know what's normal and this really does not fit into this category so just _shut up!_" I roared, slamming my hand onto the small table with the crystal ball.

"Calm down. It's not the end of the world." Aura said quietly. I hit the table with my fist again.

"But what if that thing Lexi talked about happens? The world gets ruled by the Overtakers? All the parks turn into a warzone? I really can't imagine the world continuing with the OTs ruling it!" I yelled.

"Oh my God, lay off the coffee." Lydia said, walking over. "We just need to destroy the dang things. We even got laser guns to do it. So just quit it."

"But there so much more powerful than us." I said, choking back a sob. I was about to start crying when Lexi spoke.

"Listen, if you start crying, I'm going to throw you out this tower, no matter who sees this place." She said, pausing to take a breath. "But, I do hear you. They do have magic on their side, not to mention an army of who-knows-what. I wouldn't be surprised if they beat us before March."

"Lexi!" Aura snapped. "Not helping.

"If you haven't noticed, I really wasn't trying to." She answered. Soon, all of us got into a huge fight. The only one not fighting was Elizabeth.

"Guys!" She yelled. "I figured out why no one knows this exists."

"Tell us, please!" Lexi said as she plunked herself down in a chair nearby the table. "'Cause we ain't getting anywhere."

"But do you know what actually gets you somewhere?" Elizabeth asked, stalling the answer.

"What?" Lexi asked back, obviously annoyed.

"Using proper grammar." She replied back. Lexi's eyes turned to flames. "I'm kidding. I really do know where we are."

"Where are we?" Asked Lydia as she tried to stop Lexi from killing Elizabeth.

"We're in the canal," she answered, pulling out a map of Animal Kingdom and a Sharpie marker. Placing them on the table, she circled a river on the edge of the Tree of Life. "There's a canal here, right behind the Tree. It's obvious. It takes up a lot of the land, but not everyone notices it. From what I understand, there used to be an attraction here, Safari River Boats or something of that nature. They'd go along the river. A long while ago they shut it down."

"So?" Lexi asked as she began playing with her pocketknife idly. "If we counted all the rides Disney shut down or got rid of, assumed they did it 'cause the OTs, then went searching about in its deep dark past, then try and make connections to it, we'd be here until we died." She said, her words dripping with venom.

"Cheerful." Lydia remarked.

"Yeah, that's me." Lexi answered, holding her thumb up and smiling a wide, fake smile for about two seconds. Then she frowned and held her thumb down.

"So, if we are done talking about our dooms-!" Elizabeth started, only to be cut off.

"I'll probably bring it up sometime in the next five minutes, but go on, you're doing great." Lexi commented without looking up from sharpening her knife with a loose rock she found on the floor. Elizabeth sighed and counted to ten very softly before speaking again.

"So it's all around here, but look. There are parts hidden by trees and stuff. No one has taken a boat out there-that anyone knows of-since, like, the 1990s. Why would you even come out here, anyway? There's alligators in Florida, some were seen at Splash Mountain (**A/N: This is actually true. I saw a YouTube video of it online. You have been warned. ****). **More than likely there's some at AK. Who'd go in a river, untraveled for 20 years, filled with a bunch of wildlife like alligators?" Elizabeth asked. Surprisingly, Lexi didn't make a comment. "Not many people," she concluded, answering her own question.

"So we figured it out…what do we do know?" Lydia asked, pacing around the room.

"Well first off, I think we should make this our new hideout. Second of all, we should probably tell Wayne and Ella." Elizabeth said, already heading to the stairs.

"Why?" Lexi asked, putting her knife back in its place and following suit.

"Well they're…they're in charge of us, right?" Elizabeth answered, her hand on the iron doorknob.

"But they're hiding something. I know everyone has something they have to or want to keep a secret, but this is different. You think they don't know anything about the Animal Kingdom? That was a lie." Lexi said.

"B-but why would they lie to us?" Aura stuttered. Lexi thought for a moment.

"Does it matter?" She asked, going to the door Elizabeth had opened. "People lie, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it."


End file.
